Family and Local History
Family and local history is one of the fastest growing types of resources on the
Internet. Genealogists and local history researchers have until recently had to be
willing to travel to many geographically disparate locations to search by hand through
local collections. The increasing availability of family and local history material on
the Internet has meant that this material is now at a PC near you. As well as making
resources more easily available the use of e-mail and discussion lists has meant that
people with similar research interests have been able to discover each other and share
their research. Already many public libraries are receiving e-mails from family and
local history enthusiasts from around the world asking for help with their research.
This section points to some of the more useful family and local history resources
which are available online. Much source material is still not available electronically
and still the vast majority of archival catalogues are still not online. However, what is
available shows the potential that the Internet offers the family and local history
researcher. Due to the vast amount of material on this topic which is available this
section can only provide a taster of what is out there. Where possible web directories
on specific topics have been included in order to provide the reader with good starting
points for their own searches.
Resources included in this section are:

General Resources

UK National Record Offices
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
International Archive and Record Offices

Local Record Offices

Online Databases

Mailing Lists and Discussion Lists

Local History Organisations

Local History Photograph Collections

Local History Publications
Family History General Resources
This section provides a list of excellent starting points for family history material.
These resources are web directories which classify, organize and provide access to
many of the 1,000s of genealogy resources which are available on the Internet. A
selection of UK focused resources and more international collections have been
included.
Familia
http://www.earl.org.uk/familia/index.html
Familia is a web-based directory of family history resources held in public libraries in
the UK and Ireland. Updated and maintained by the Family History Group of the Earl
Consortium it is the online starting place to find information about family history
materials in public libraries in the UK.
The UK & Ireland Genealogical Information Service (GENUKI)
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http://www.genuki.org.uk/
The aim of GENUKI is to serve as a "virtual reference library" of genealogical
information that is of particular relevance to the UK & Ireland. It is a non-commercial
service, provided by an ever-growing group of volunteers in co-operation with the
Federation of Family History Societies and a number of its member societies. Not the
most visually attractive site it is however of great importance and is probably the most
comprehensive site available about UK genealogy.
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
http://www.cyndislist.com/
This is a huge compilation of genealogy Internet resources. It contains over 53,000
links organized into over 100 categories.
UK National Record Offices
National Record Offices are the repository of the National Archives. They bring
together the records of the government and courts of law and make them available to
anyone. These records, including birth certificates, wedding certificates, census
material, make them extremely useful for the genealogist.
Public Record Office
http://www.pro.gov.uk/
The Public Record Office is the national repository of archives for England and Wales
and the United Kingdom. In 1999 it launched an Internet accessible version of its
eight million item catalogue of document descriptions
(http://www.pro.gov.uk/finding/default.htm). Currently very little of the Record
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Office’s source material is available in an electronic format over the Internet. Some
particularly famous documents are available in digital format in the Record Offices’
Learning Curve site, http://www.pro.gov.uk/learningcurve/ which has been
designed for use in schools. Usefully the Record Office has published many of its
leaflets about how to undertake genealogy research, how to use the Record Office etc
on its website.
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
http://proni.nics.gov.uk/index.htm
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) provides similar types of
information to the Public Record Office. General information is provided about how
to use PRONI, the type of records that it holds and opening hours information.
PRONI’s catalogue is not yet available online.
Scottish Record Office
http://www.sro.gov.uk/
At the time of writing this site was empty except for a ‘coming soon’ message. The
link has been included however in the hope that the site has gone live by the time this
book is published.
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
http://www.hmc.gov.uk/main.htm
ARCHON
http://www.hmc.gov.uk/archon/archon.htm
ARCHON is the principal information gateway for UK archivists and users of
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manuscript sources for British history. It is hosted and maintained by the Royal
Commission on Historical Manuscripts. From here you can access information on all
repositories in the United Kingdom and all those repositories throughout the world
which have collections of manuscripts which are noted on the British National
Register of Archives. In addition, archivists can access information on archival
organisations and initiatives through the pages of archivists' links.
International Archives and Record Offices
A large percentage of national archives around the world have websites. Again these
websites range greatly in the range of information and material which they make
available online. Some of the more developed online archives are listed below. Also
listed is a web directory to national archives on the Internet.
National Archives of New Zealand
http://www.archives.dia.govt.nz/
National Archives of Australia
http://www.naa.gov.au/
National Archives of Canada
http://www.archives.ca/
National Archives and Records Administration of USA
http://www.nara.gov/
Archivesinfo, overseas archival repositories on the Internet
http://www.archivesinfo.net/overseas.html
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Local Record Offices and Archives
Local Record Offices and Archives in the UK are also beginning to develop websites.
The range of information and the quality of the sites vary greatly. The quality of the
information provided on the official Record Office sites varies greatly. Mainly
provide little more than information about their opening times and location. Others,
for example the Suffolk Record Office, will have lists of their recent accessions,
online exhibitions and information about their collections and how to use them. The
Somerset Record Office has detailed information about parishes and digitised parish
maps from 1900 in addition to digitised postcards.
UK Public Libraries Page
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/ukpublib.html
The UK Public Libraries page is an online directory for public library webpages.
Record Offices and archives are often part of the Library Service and so this directory
will be helpful in locating them.
Archivesinfo, UK Archival Repositories on the Internet
http://www.archivesinfo.net/uksites.html
A good collection of links to UK local Record Offices.
Suffolk Record Office
http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/libraries_and_heritage/sro/
Somerset Archive and Record Service
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/oldmain.htm
Online Databases
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There is a developing online genealogy industry on the Internet. Large databases of
family history material have been gathered by commercial companies who charge
access to them via the web. Most of these sites have an American focus. Although
charges are made for much of the resources they some of it is free. Ancestry.com for
instance provides a free searchable family tree database which is the largest collection
of family trees on the Internet. The largest genealogy database which is available on
the Internet however is freely available and is provided by the Church of Jesus Christ
of the Latter Day Saints. Other useful databases for family historians can also be the
online telephone directories which are increasing being made available (see Reference
Section).
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service
http://www.familysearch.org/
The FamilySearch® Internet Genealogy Service gives you access to extensive
genealogical resources gathered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This service includes free access to the International Genealogy Index is the world's
largest collection of birth, christening, and marriage information with over 300
million records.
Family Name Archive Library
http://www.traceit.com/
Seven databases available online with one million surnames referenced.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
http://yard.ccta.gov.uk/cwgc/register.nsf
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This register provides personal and service details and places of commemoration for
the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or Second
World Wars.
Ancestry.Com
http://www.ancestry.com/
A commercial genealogy company.
The RootsWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/
A semi-commercial genealogy site.
Mailing Lists and Discussion Lists
There are numerous mailing lists and discussion lists which are on the topic of
genealogy and genealogical research. The two links below are to directories which list
a considerable number of these.
Genealogy on the Internet - UK Mailing Lists
http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/gen_mail.html
Genealogy on the Internet - Newsgroups
http://www.genhomepage.com/communications.html
Family History Societies
Family history societies are also developing their own resources and are always useful
contacts for help and sharing research.
Federation of Family History Member Societies
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http://www.ffhs.org.uk/members/
An extensive list of family history societies on the web.
Society of Genealogists
http://www.sog.org.uk/
Information about the UK Society of Genealogists.
Local History
Many of the resources that are relevant for family historians are also relevant for local
historians however this section is specifically focused on local history resources.
Again like family history the Internet has proved to be a boon to the local historian. It
is very easy to publish research, search catalogues remotely and to locate people who
share the same interests.
Historical Text Archive
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9061/index.html
Visually unappealing but a vast collection of links about history resources on the
Internet.
Organisations
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England (RCHME)
http://www.rchme.gov.uk/homepage.html
The RCHME is a national body which has responsibility for creating and maintaining
a public record of England’s historical buildings and archeological landscapes. As
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part of its work it has developed the National Monuments Record which is a public
archive of data on the historic environment, open to all and free of charge. It now
comprises over 12 million photographs, drawings, maps and records, a substantial
reference library of published books and journals, and several indexes of other related
material. Although not available at present the RCHME is planning to make available
online the catalogue for this archive at some time in the future.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS)
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/
The RCAHMS website provides access to Canmore - Computer Application for
National MOnument Record Enquiries. Canmore is the catalogue of RCAHMS and
whilst not providing access to digitised images themselves it does provide textual
information about them. You need to complete an online registration form to use this
catalogue but registration is free.
Institute for Historical Research
http://www.ihr.sas.ac.uk/
Contains History Online which has a searchable catalogue of 30,000 history resource
records.
BBC Education History Resources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/history/
Lots of general information about history available on the BBC website. Specific
resources do relate to some community history, for example the Windrush resources.
Also included is information about Radio Four’s Making History programme
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/makinghistory/millenium.shtml
Local History Photograph Collections
Some public libraries and archives have already digitised some of their local
photograph collections and made them available on the Internet. The extent of the
collection which has been digitised does vary greatly but resources like these have
proved to be very popular and successful.
Cambridgeshire’s History on the Internet
http://www.camcnty.gov.uk/library/history/home1.htm
Leeds Library and Information Services Photograph Collection
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/archive
Publications
Local History Magazine
http://www.local-history.co.uk/index.html
The website of the UK’s only dedicated local history magazine. This site contains a
useful collection of local history links, information about local history courses taking
place around the country and contact details for local history societies in the UK.
Victoria History of the Counties of England
http://ihr.sas.ac.uk/vch/welcome.html
Information provided on this site includes work in progress and volumes published.
More detailed information is provided about the Victoria County History of Wiltshire
at http://www.ihrinfo.ac.uk/vch/wilts/wilts.html
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Internet Library of Early Publications
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/
The Internet Library of Early Journal" is a joint project by the Universities of
Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Oxford, conducted under the auspices of the
Electronic Libraries Programme. It aims to digitise substantial runs of 18th and 19th
century journals, and make these images available on the Internet, together with their
associated bibliographic data. Journals used in the project included Gentleman's
Magazine, The Annual Register, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,
Notes and Queries, The Builder and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
History Today
http://www.historytoday.com/index.cfm
Online version of this monthly history magazine. Contains a searchable index of the
magazine since 1990 with many of the articles freely available online. Also contains a
useful set of history links.
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